In a previous post I mentioned that I was going to read Giulia Enders’s book Gut. I have finished it now and I thoroughly recommend it. It’s written in an accessible style and is a fascinating journey from mouth to bum and tells you all you need to know to keep a healthy and happy gut and do efficient poos. In an earlier post I mentioned Michael Gershon’s book, The Second Brain, and was pleased to see he got a name check in Giulia Enders’s book in the section that discussed serotonin as the nerotransmitter of the gut brain – the second human brain. That’s the same serotonin that a lack of in the head brain causes depression.

The book was at its most interesting for me when she conjectured that the bacteria of the  gut might actually direct the body to do certain things or eat certain foods to keep them happy. There are particular gut bacteria associated with obese people. Could obesity simply be the enslavement of the rest of the body to keep those “obesity bacteria” fed and happy in the obese person’s gut? Maybe when I was in the supermarket the other day and got the urge to eat Roquefort, it was my Roquefort loving gut bacteria controlling my thoughts and it was them that had the urge… Not me…

Great book, good read.